Friday fun poll: how long is your commute?
Friday fun poll: how long is your commute?
If you like, skip to the end of this post to take the poll about how long your commute takes.
Last week: when did you start riding transit?
Last week’s fun post asked when you first started riding transit.
And it seems most of you (56%) started way back when you were kids! 21% started as teenagers, 18% said university or college, and just 5% said as an adult.
So many of you wrote about your experiences as a kid, and really, the comments were just lovely to read. There were so many fond reminiscences of taking transit with a parent or grandparent, or that first taste of freedom from using the system by yourself. Here’s Ella:
I’m sure I was riding transit much earlier, but the earliest I remember regularly riding the bus was to swimming lessons when I was 10. It was a huge deal because I was allowed to ride all by myself, and I had to transfer (very grown up things when you are a ten year old)!
JustMe had a story and a belated apology:
I remember my grandpa used to take me downtown to do errands on the Skytrain once a week. I also remember running up to the “drivers” seat while imitating the classic MKI sounds and doing all the announcements.. Come to think of it, it must have been pretty annoying, so I apologize if you’ve sat next to me back then. In my defence… It was awesome!
Plus Cow wrote in with a thoughtful note on how transit would have been great as a kid.
It would be interesting to see the correlation between whether people grew up in Vancouver or not along with the data. I started riding transit when I graduated high school and moved to A Real City; transit just didn’t exist in the middle of nowhere.
(I kind of envy kids who grow up in a city and can take transit to get around! Living where I did, you really had no independence at all until age 16 when you could get a driver licence and drive a car. Life with a transit pass is so, so much better. :D)
So really, check out the post to read everyone’s comments — they were truly a treat!
This week: how long is your commute?
I just remembered that I ran this poll for our BePartofthePlan consultation, but I never did it over here.
A few fun notes:
– My commute takes roughly 30-40 minutes, all on transit, and I really don’t mind it.
– In December 2008, Leslee Nicholson of Halifax won a Goodyear contest for having the longest commute in Canada — five hours of driving each way!
– Here is a really great article about commuting from the New Yorker in 2007. I thought this quote was pretty apt:
People like to compare commutes, to complain or boast about their own and, depending on whether their pride derives from misery or efficiency, to exaggerate the length or the brevity of their trip.
By the way, the longest American commute cited there was 7 hours a day — Leslee Nicholson would scoff at that, I think!
– And some follow-up questions: Do you like your commute or not? Or if you didn’t have to travel, what else do you think you might do with that extra time? (My answer: “Sleep in” :)
Ouch!! We already have a winner 100% chose (including me) 30 mins – 1 hour. When I came to Metro Vancouver I was blessed to the idea I was right next the SkyTrain. Only 5 to 10 walk to Gateway Station and a 36 min SkyTrain ride to Downtown Vancouver that’s roughly 41-46 commuting time (this includes walking by the way). Not so much when I was in Toronto. First I had to wait for the bus for like 7 mins, add that to 40 min bus ride to the subway and 32 min subway ride to Downtown and well you get the picture. In total the commuting time was 1 and 19 mins.
My Canada Line trip to the office just takes over an hour. This is a little improvement compared to old days with the 491. But it used to take me 1h 45min prior to the 98BLines as the bus would do a Uturn in Marpole, back up to 71st, for another Uturn to get on the Oak Bridge, with another Uturn at the Park and Ride, with another Uturn past Staples to get back to Westminster Hwy.
Today my trip home would be quicker if the Canada Line 8 minute rush hour frequency could be extended to 7:30 or 9pm.
When I reach for the car keys, because I spend too much time on the blog in the mornings…. 20 minutes. ;-)
Thanks to the Canada Line, my commute from South Surrey has been cut by 30 minutes each way. At the end of the day, I can now get from my desk to my kettle at home (tea is a priority in my house) in exactly one hour!
About 8-10 mins when I get to work by bike (almost every day except the few days a year it snows hard), about 20 mins when I take the bus if I factor in not checking the schedule before going out the door (the #25 is pretty frequent at peak times so I don’t usually check the schedule). On the one hand this is very convenient, on the other hand I don’t get nearly as much reading done as I could if I lived farther away and rode a bus for longer!
A year ago when I was living in Japan, I would’ve said an hour–minimum; one way. but since coming back to Vancouver, it is same as it ever was. 30 minutes via either the #25 or #33 (preferably the #33).
I have to travel from Kerrisdale to Brentwood, I leave my house at 7.00 and get to work at 8.20..way too long. That is a lot of travelling over a week and by the time the weekend arrives I am drained. I do feel however I get good value for money from Translink and most of the journey is quite civilized…with exception to the Canada Line which at 85% capacity and getting so over crowded I have to consider going back to my #16 bus journey (much longer!!!).
I thought the worst journey I ever did was Woking in Surrey to Waterloo in London, 23 miles but the journey was only 20 minutes! Then I lived in Camden and had to travel to Liverpool Street, just 30 minutes. More reasonable travelling times. I need a job closer to home!!!!
2 lousy hours each way :(.
When I started my job in Richmond, we lived in Richmond, and was a sweet 15 minutes each way.
Then we moved to East Van, and thanks to the 43, it didn’t take more than an hour each way.
Then we moved to Port Moody, and it’s 2 painful hours each way.
I guess I fall into the category of my pride deriving from misery, but then again, driving from Port Moody to Richmond is an hour minimum during rush hour—and a heck of a lot more stressful (and more expensive!) than reading or sleeping on the bus!
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32 minutes, front door to office via both Skytrain lines … often the wait for the elevator is longer than the wait for a train
When I drove it would take me about 30 mins to work and 15-20 mins from work. Due to very little traffic coming home.
Now that I take transit it takes me about 40-50 mins to work and about 50-70 mins from work. It would be quicker coming home but because the buses don’t run as often I’m having to wait.
I’m planning on getting a bike and skipping the buses and just cycling to sky train. It would be about 11.4 KM per day of cycling.
Living in the Cape Horn area of Coquitlam, I cycled to Schoolhouse at Lougheed and boarded the 169 to Coquitlam Centre. From there, I took the 160, got off at Burrard and cycled to my work on Robson Street.
Another interesting commute I did for a couple months while I was attending BCIT was a carpool. My friend, a construction worker at BC Place, drove over to my house and then we took my vehicle to Downtown, utilizing the HOV lanes on St John’s, Clarke, Barnet, Inlet, and Hastings.
The time savings on that one was actually a small loss, about 10 minutes, but my costs decreased significantly. To Carpool, I was given $30 a week.
There’s nothing like catching someone behind you in the HOV lane when they’re not supposed to be there and then suddenly realizing you were speeding. Whoops, better slow down to 50km/h, I don’t want a ticket or anything….
My commute time is zero minutes, but I take my kids to school, and that takes six minutes by bike or seventeen minutes on foot.
Depending on my transfers, about 40 minutes each way, door to door. I read or listen to podcasts, which makes it go faster. If only I didn’t have transfer, I’d get more reading done! The M-line makes it about 20 minutes faster than it used to be. Now if only the 135 were a B-line, then my occasional trips downtown after work would be faster (nudge, nudge. I’m going to keep mentioning that every chance I get until it happens ;-) )
usually when i bus to school its usually an 1:10 commute. i first wait for the 28 then skytrain from joyce to 29th ave. then i’d hop onto the 29 and literaly my stop is almost at the end of the route.
When I was working I usually carpooled from Richmond to Delta which would take 20 minutes (unless there was a logjam in the Massey Tunnel).
Now that I’m back in school my “commute” from home to Kwantlen’s Richmond Campus ranges from 20 minutes (405) to 40 minutes (two buses or a 5 minute walk, a SkyTrain ride, and one bus ride).
I like my commute because there is minimal walking involved if I can catch a 405, and I have suitable alternatives if I miss it.
getting to sfu was ~90 minutes and 4 different vehicles, which was a pain.
Now that I am going to the surrey campus it’s down to around 45 minutes (maybe less when that handy 394 is running.)
I think I will have the longest commute of all you other buzzer blog readers and Friday fun post commenters and participants.
I live in Richmond and I am a Kwantlen student. My classes are held at the Cloverdale campus.
My commute to the campus is 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes one way depending on traffic conditions. My entire commute is done on transit. 2 transfers and 3 buses. I generally have to start my trip at 5 in the morning. I am probably one of the few people who has to use transit when the service just starts for the day.
I don’t mind the 2 hour long commute. In fact it feels like it is only a 1 hour long commute.
I have mixed feelings about someone who complains about a long commute and then admits they keep moving farther and farther away (Stefan). I assume there were other factors that led to the moves like reducing a partner’s commute or getting a family sized home you can afford.
For years I’ve been resisting my wife’s interest in moving out to the ‘burbs by arguing that she and the kids would hardly ever see me if my commute was 3 times as long.
David: Yes, there were economic factors involved. Later this year, we’ll be moving back to Vancouver, though.
With the school I’m working at right now, my commute is about 20 minutes — out to the bus stop early (160s going against traffic in the morning sometimes run almost five minutes early by the time they reach me), around Burnaby Mountain and along St. Johns Street in Port Moody. When I’m back to my regular itinerant life as a teacher-on-call, though, my commute ranges from the current nice short one, to around an hour (a bit less or a bit more) for some of the schools that involve more awkward connections.
Edited Version
Ouch!! We already have a winner 100% chose (including me) 30 mins – 1 hour. When I came to Metro Vancouver I was blessed to the idea I was right next the SkyTrain. Only 5 to 10 min walk to Gateway Station and a 36 min SkyTrain ride to Downtown Vancouver that’s roughly 41-46 min commuting time (this includes walking by the way). Not so much when I was in Toronto. First I had to wait for the bus for like 7 mins, add that to 40 min bus ride to the subway and 32 min subway ride to Downtown and well you get the picture. In total the commuting time was 1 hr and 19 mins.
[…] Last week’s fun post asked how long your commute was. […]